March Carolina Journal Poll

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In partnership with Level Up Expo. And a good Friday morning to you. Welcome into the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.

We've got some brand new polling on the Carolina Journal News Hour as we head deeper into 2026. All eyes remain on the midterm elections coming up in November of this year. To walk us through some of those details, Donna King, the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, joins us here on the news hour. Donna, this poll is just out over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, in the field over the last couple of days. As we look forward, the big question, do people think the country is heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?

What do North Carolina voters have to say?

So, the results of our poll said that just 38.8% of North Carolinians felt like we were headed in the right direction nationally. And then that's across Democrats, Republicans, unaffiliated. It's kind of consistent with what we saw in a similar question back in November, but this is a big drop from August of 2025. Just 38% now say we're headed in the right direction. Back in August, it was 47%.

So, folks that think we're going on the wrong track, 55% of North Carolinians in this poll think the country is headed off on the wrong track. When we asked them about North Carolina specifically, people, right direction was 33%, and wrong track was 46%.

So, we're seeing some pessimism in this poll. Yeah, and it's kind of interesting when you break down the kind of different answers to those questions or the different responses to those answers in both of the questions there. I found it interesting, Donna, that only 16% said that the country was definitely heading in the right direction. That is a very small group of people that say, yeah, things are not only pretty good, but they're continuing in that direction. Yes, that is really concerning, particularly as we go into those midterm elections.

Traditionally, whoever's in the White House tends to not fare as well in midterm elections, but we're seeing that, that sentiment is pretty strong as we go into the summer here in North Carolina and nationally. No surprise. Obviously, we've got this war brewing in Iran right now. Gas prices have been spiking over the last couple of weeks. We've got a whole bunch of other generic issues that are bothering people across the nation.

However, I do think this pessimism is interesting in North Carolina. Donna, from all accounts, things are pretty good in the Tar Heel State. That's not to say we're not without a few issues here and there. Yes, there's a lot of people moving from down north and population growth is an issue in some areas. But all in all, North Carolina, at least from my vantage point, is in pretty good shape.

I agree, and I think that what we're really seeing is evidence of news consumption. I think that there is, particularly if you look at that mainstream media news, this constant focus on opposition to the war in Iran and focus on prices. Suddenly, it feels like suddenly the mainstream media is really focused on prices where they didn't seem to be when we were at 8% inflation back in 2022.

So I think a lot of this really is based on news consumption, but it does indicate that there could be a problem for Republicans as they go into the summer. I don't know for sure that gas prices won't be correcting itself over the coming weeks, but the polls are just not looking good right now for them. Yeah, no question about that. Taking a look down, let's see some of the large elected political figures that are at the top of some of these entities. We'll start off with the approval rating for President Donald Trump, currently sitting at about 44.8%.

It's down a little bit from where it was last year, but pretty consistent with some of our polling we did back in November of last year. It is about this very similar. He was about one point higher back in November. And in August, he was at 47%.

So this is pretty consistent with what we're seeing across time. We could ask the same question in the same wording over and over time, so we can get that trend line. Disapproval rating is at 43%, and it was at 50% back in August. But I think that, again, is the reflection of what we're seeing about the war in Iran. Josh Stein, the governor, he's had really consistent approval ratings right at 50%, August, September, November, May, and then, of course, March of 2026 across the board.

So he has kept his head fairly down on some of these really controversial issues. And we even saw Republicans are giving him a 50-50 approval rating, which is strong for a governor. One of the things I found interesting on Stein's approval was that the amount of unsure continues to trend down, which is no surprise. He's now been in office a little bit more than a year. He's, to his credit, been out speaking a lot of press conferences, various announcements across North Carolina.

So to see that continue to trend down, and his disapproval is actually trending up a little bit while his approval maintains this relatively equal level at around 50%. Right, that is a really good point. It appears as though those who are becoming sure and moving out of the unsure category over time, they're picking disapprove. And so, whether it's the same folks or not, it's hard to say right now, but his approval rating is steady, his disapproval rating is climbing, and the unsure is going down.

So, that's a really good point to make. Donna, I feel like I'm asking a stupid question here, but how can the governor have a 50% approval rating, yet only 33% of North Carolinians think the state is heading in the right direction? It would appear that the math is not mathing on these two different questions. No, no, I totally agree. I think what that shows you is that the governor doesn't carry the baggage for what people perceive to be problems.

And we can see it in the very next question, the generic ballot for state legislature. That question says, if the 2026 general election were held today, would you vote for the Republican or the Democratic candidate in the North Carolina state legislature?

Now, because this is a statewide poll, we don't give names. We just say, if you were going to go in and pick, would you pick the Republican or the Democrat? And we are in a Republican majority. In that, we see that the Democratic candidate has 45% to the Republicans, 43%.

So then that begs the question, right? Are people saying, okay, we're headed in the wrong direction? I'm going to blame the Republican state legislature or I'm going to blame the governor. And it appears that they're putting. More of that responsibility onto the state legislature.

Donna, this should be a concerning number. The two figures that you just went through should be a concerning number for lawmakers in Raleigh that have held the majority going all the way back to 2010. Obviously, there's still a lot of time until we get closer and closer to November. But if this polling doesn't change dramatically, there is a possibility that Republicans lose the majority in at least one of the chambers of the General Assembly. It could.

And I think that this Rockingham County Burger Page thing is not helping the situation. People don't like drama and infighting and what appears to be infighting in some of these cases. And the primary season was ugly. We saw several of the Democrat candidates lose their primaries because their own party went after them for voting with Republicans on key things like ICE cooperation for sheriffs, those kinds of issues. And people have low tolerance right now for partisan bickering.

So I think that perhaps that's part of what we're seeing, that level of frustration. You're right. It doesn't look good. But I also think that people's memory is kind of short term.

So it means that the summer is going to be critically important for incumbents. Yeah, and it's also going to be critically important for that Republican-led General Assembly in the short session. We do have some questions a little bit later on about some policies out of the General Assembly that we'll get into. All right, Donna, you mentioned the general ballot for the state legislature. That's important.

But Congress as well, we're going to be watching these midterm elections very closely to see if Republicans can maintain control in both the United States House and Senate. What do North Carolina voters have to say about the general congressional ballot? It was more of the same, truthfully. It said, and regardless of how you vote at the state level, if the 2026 general election were held for U.S. Congress today, who would you vote for?

48% said the Democratic candidate, and 43% said the Republican candidate. And so in many of these cases, we're not in the general election. We've been very, very focused on the primaries over the last few months.

So this is our very first poll since that primary. This shows you that there is a road to November, but it is going to be a scrap, particularly when we talk about that Senate ballot. That's going to be probably, you know, historically maybe one of the most expensive U.S. Senate candidate races we've ever seen. Yeah, we'll get to that Senate ballot question here in just a second.

On this Republican versus Democrat congressional ballot, it's kind of an interesting question. I would argue, maybe even a little bit of a loaded question, because of the way in which the districts are made up here in North Carolina, many of them in the more urban areas are very heavily blue, regardless of whether you're a staunch conservative in one of those areas voting for the Republican, or if even if there is a Republican, probably is not going to benefit. And some of the same things in some of our more rural areas of North Carolina as well. The General Assembly redrawing some of those congressional maps late last year. I would imagine that this information is probably really only relevant in that first congressional district in the race between Lori Buckout and Don Davis.

Absolutely. That's exactly right. That's something that they're going to be really focused on nationally here in North Carolina. And, you know, right now, Lori Buckout's going to be challenging the incumbent Democrat Don Davis with a different district, with a little bit more Republican-leaning district this time. But that also took some seats, some votes.

Population away from C D two. C D. CD3, that's right.

So that is a little bit less Republican.

So, you know, it could end up being that they balance each other out. Or if it is a Democrat wave, it could take both. And you can't discount all the focus that National Democrats have been putting on Congressional District 11 way out west.

So those districts are going to be something we have to watch really closely. But you're right. Those are the three that we are going to be watching. We'll have more results from our most recent Carolina Journal poll with Donna King coming up after this. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine, WBT.

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I can follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9, WBT, continued coverage of our most recent Carolina Journal poll with Donna King. Over to the potentially $100 million question as we look towards the Senate race in November of 2026. Former Democrat governor Roy Cooper, former head of the North Carolina Republican Party, and RNC Michael Watley.

Where are voters falling on this race?

So this is really interesting. I mean, Michael Watley, who is largely unknown to those who are not in political circles, comes in at 41% to Roy Cooper, who's had 40 years in state public office as Attorney General and General, to his Attorney General and Governor, to his 48. For them to be just seven points divided or separated at this point in the race, when Michael Watley truly has not even started his general election. Election campaign. It's interesting to me.

I really thought that Cooper would have a much bigger lead right now on Michael Watley because folks just don't know who Watley is, and everybody knows who Roy Cooper is.

So it is interesting. To me, it means that perhaps his gubernatorial approval ratings that we watched for many years aren't translating into a Senate race. It'll be very interesting to see how it goes. But I think this is good news for Michael Watley. Yeah, I mean, you're talking about a guy in Roy Cooper who literally has a 100% name ID unless you've just moved to North Carolina, maybe in the last 12 months and are not from maybe is the only reason you would not be familiar with him if you lived here for any span of time longer than that.

You've definitely heard that name. I definitely agree with you completely that this margin I would have assumed would have been a little bit bigger by now. The ad buys haven't started. The mail hasn't started flooding into your mailboxes. The text messages, the phone calls, all those fun things as we get deeper into the campaign season.

Donna, it seems like regardless, this is going to be a razor-thin race as we get closer to November. Oh, it is going to be. And one of the other things that, and this is just speculation around the office here, some of us were wondering if perhaps folks don't know Roy Cooper isn't the governor anymore and that perhaps that we're going in the wrong direction issue is weighing him down. Folks might think he's governor.

So, you know, who knows? It's hard to say right now, but Josh Stein being relatively under, you know, you know, keeping his head down and Roy Cooper being so well. known and folks being frustrated with the state, who knows, that might be a real challenge for Roy Cooper. We will, of course, keep a close eye on that, and we'll continue to pull that throughout the remainder of the year over on our Carolina Journal poll. Don, let's dive into some work for potentially the North Carolina General Assembly.

We know that the short session is set to begin here shortly. It is not immediately clear exactly how much lawmakers will get into. A lot of questions still being asked about the race between Phil Berger and Sam Page. What kind of impact could that have if Berger is not successful and really has nothing to lose in his final term here in the legislature? There is an interesting question in here about carbon neutrality.

This is a hot topic over the last couple of days. Folks may have seen a major announcement from the Trump administration axing some offshore wind permits here in North Carolina, maybe some of the rollback of the Green New Deal in the Biden administration. What question exactly do we ask voters, and what are the responses? Sure, sure.

So the question is, North Carolina legally must be carbon neutral by 2050.

Now, that's been on the books for quite some time now. Do you support this goal, even if it means paying more for energy bills?

So legally, North Carolina must be carbon neutral by 2050. Do folks support that? Are they willing to pay more for energy to keep that? Just 25% said that the goal should remain a legal requirement. And 32% say, okay, this should be a goal, but we shouldn't be legally required to meet it.

And that would be a big policy change. And that legality is left over from those Cooper years.

So the appetite for maintaining these green energy requirements, not goals, requirements, may be fading pretty fast. The very next question says, look, as utility companies start replacing retiring coal plants, and coal power is a steady, reliable source of electricity. It doesn't disappear when the sun's not shining, the wind's not blowing. Do you support or oppose requiring utility companies to replace retiring power plants with energy sources that are equally capable of providing reliable energy without backup?

So 51%. Supported the requirement that utility companies replace retiring coal power pants with something equally capable of providing that output. Just 27% opposed.

So, when it comes down to paying for power and paying for energy and keeping the lights on regardless of the weather, more people support the idea of keeping our energy grid reliable and low cost, sounds like. And Donna, I would question even the twenty seven point six percent that say that they oppose. I wonder how many of them actually understood the full question in its entirety and wouldn't say solar or wind is that replacement, even though as you and I and most of our listeners know that they are not comparable forms of electrical generation. That's exactly right. And I hear a lot about, well, they've got a battery.

You know, those batteries don't last, wouldn't take care of you through the night.

So even if you could store enough, which in itself is questionable, it doesn't. Provide enough storage to get it through a cold night, certainly not a cold winter.

So, those issues are something that we're really going to have to be talking about at the policy standpoint and at the state legislature. But this is where the public stands on it. Affordability remains a major topic of conversation. As you hinted a little bit earlier in the interview, Donna, this seems to be the big meme now from those in the mainstream media. All is affordability all the time now.

One of the things that North Carolina voters and property owners have seen over the last couple of years is their property taxes in many areas as reevaluations have taken place on either a two, four, or six-year cycle across North Carolina. Donna, regardless of the question, almost 77% of North Carolina voters say that it is either a major or minor burden as it relates to their property taxes. Yeah, this is something we're going to be talking about a lot because so many folks have moved to North Carolina. Property values are going through the roof. And even folks who maybe have been there for 50 years and their property's paid off, property taxes are becoming a big issue.

So I think we're going to see something from the state legislature. But you're right, 77% or so said, look, this is a burden. 38% said it's a major burden, property taxes. Are. Only 17% of people said it is not a burden, that their property tax is not a burden.

And 73% said they would support a constitutional amendment, an amendment to the North Carolina Constitution that requires limits on property tax increases by local government. 73% would support a constitutional amendment. That's a big deal. And that means that it really is important to North Carolina's general public. Hopefully some lawmakers that work in the North Carolina General Assembly are listening to our interview and reading our poll over on the website, Donna.

I mean, again, you talk about, hey, let the people choose, let the people's voice be heard. I would imagine if this poll is even close to representative of what this would actually play out on the ballot, this would be a slam dunk for state lawmakers. It seems like it would, but housing affordability is a huge issue in North Carolina right now. One of the other questions we had is: housing prices have increased. Do you believe that building more housing with lower prices?

This was so interesting to me. Only 55% of people don't think that building more houses would lower prices. And that's the basic supply-demand. I was surprised to see that.

So, really getting the word out and talking about what is driving up that cost of living is going to be an important thing through the summer. Don, I wonder how much of this do not believe as it relates to new housing, which I'm glad you pointed out because it completely goes against the concern over property taxes and things like that. I wonder how much of that 55% is the NIMBY crowd. We're starting to see this creep out of our more major metropolitan areas into small and even medium-sized towns and cities across the state of North Carolina where people are saying, stop moving here, stop building. We don't need any more gas stations or vape shops or storage units.

We're done with all this building. I wonder how much of that creeps into that answer. Oh, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I think it is the NIMBY crowd because when we look at this poll and that question about does building more lower the cost, voters who are between age 18 and 34, so young ones, folks that are out there trying to buy a house, they believe that more housing will help lower costs. When you look at folks who are 65 years of age, they say they are less likely to believe that it will lower costs.

So it is, I think a lot of it is folks they're already in their house and they don't want to see more of that construction. And so that's you when you see the age split, you can tell exactly why they've answered the way they have. We'll round out coverage of our most recent Carolina Journal poll coming up after this. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again, and welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT.

We're joined this morning by Donna King, the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, as we continue with coverage of our most recent Carolina Journal poll. Looking at a couple of other questions in our poll, one of the things that we've been keeping a very close eye on over at CarolinaJournal.com is the budget. The fiscal year started July the 1st of 2025. Fortunately, the state of North Carolina has continued cruising along on its previous year budget. Donna, it seems as the weeks and months go by, this remains a larger and larger black eye for lawmakers in Raleigh.

84% of voters are asking North Carolina lawmakers to give up their salary unless they're willing to go forward and pass a budget. I guess that should be no surprise. Right, we went right for the crux of it there in that particular question. And I think it is interesting because North Carolina doesn't have shutdowns. You know, we have a state law that says the old budget continues if we don't get a new one to avoid exactly those kind of crises that we see at the federal level.

But maybe that's what we need to shake things up. Who knows? But one in this, 84% said they would support requiring legislators to give up their salary if they don't have a new budget between the time the old budget expires and the time they have a new one to just put some teeth in this process. But I think what this really indicates is that lawmakers are going to feel some political pressure to get a budget passed because, in the end, we still have state government operations, even if they've this whole thing would be over if they just agree to spend less. But that hasn't happened.

And so I think we may see many budgets coming out of this, but I'm not sure that that's going to do the trick from a political or a PR standpoint. I think they're going. Going to have to say we have one big budget and be able to take that information home because people are getting frustrated. Yeah, and as we've already kind of talked about it, going back to some of our first questions in the poll, this is not a good poll overall for Republicans. It shows them hurting in a lot of these generic ballot races.

This budget back and forth between House and Senate leadership is not playing well in the public sphere and could potentially end up hurting lawmakers as we head closer to November. Donna, one of the issues that North Carolina faces is some of the highest health care costs anywhere in the United States, regardless of whether you're receiving insurance through your employer, maybe you're one of the new hundreds of thousands of people that are on the expanded Medicaid program, healthcare.gov, the ACA program, a variety of different health care forms. It is very expensive here in North Carolina. We've got a question about certificate of need. What did voters have to say about that?

Yeah, so certificate of need, if you're not familiar with it, most people are, I think, by this point, is the state government gives out permission slips for healthcare providers to add beds or add more major equipment or expand their services. It's basically the government controlling the marketplace for healthcare, and it definitely has an impact. Statistically, studies have shown it has an impact on raising prices.

So, certificate of need repeal has been at the top of the list for the John Locke Foundation for many years. 41% of folks in this poll would support repealing certificate of need rules or rules that allow the government to give permission for healthcare providers to expand services.

So, again, we're right back to the same idea. When you have more services, it drives the price down, just like it did with housing.

So, 41% of folks said they would support repealing them. That's not as high, perhaps, as it's been in the past, but some of that is folks just not understanding what certificate of need does. To the price of healthcare.

So that's going to be for proponents of repealing certificate of need. That's where the challenge is: getting that education effort out there. One of the interesting responses to this is twenty one point two percent of people not only just opposed it, Donna, they strongly oppose that. I guess maybe those individuals are not uh paying for any of their health insurance anyway, and it's maybe not a big deal or big issue for them. Yeah, and I mean, and some of that might mean that they are in the healthcare industry and on the winning side.

Folks who already have the beds, already have the services and don't want competition. Could be, I'm guessing. But certainly that is where some of the opposition to it is coming from, from large healthcare providers who already have the permission slips in place and see more of them being competition. A couple of more questions as we round out our most recent Carolina Journal poll. AI and AI data centers has been all the rage in media and social media over the last couple of months.

There's been a growing concern that these brand new facilities, of which some of them are opening in North Carolina, are putting an excised burden on the power utility grid, causing rates for regular ratepayers in their homes and their small businesses to skyrocket. We asked individuals the question: Do you support or oppose a policy that requires these facilities to provide their own electrical generation? What do the people have to say, Donna? This is so interesting to me because it does show you that people do understand this.

So, there may be public policy issues that are kind of in the weeds. This one, everybody understands. The power that an AI data center requires is really significant. This question was: artificial intelligence data centers require significant electricity and infrastructure investment. Do you support or oppose a policy that requires these facilities to provide for their own energy generation?

Now, that could be that they build it themselves or they pay for it. 78% were in support of requiring AI data centers to provide for their own energy generation. You know, this is a big deal, and it really will help shape some of what we see when we're talking about the, for example, the executive branch drawing in more data centers as part of their economic development package. That they are, they have the support of the people of North Carolina to require these groups to generate their. Own energy because it'll drive up prices.

You know, it could threaten the prices for everyone else.

So, this poll number is interesting when it comes to AI. And it is the second highest single number in our poll outside of that question about the budgeting: should lawmakers go without money if they can't pass a budget? This is by far the second highest at almost 78.5% for voters there. We'll keep an eye on that as business growth continues across the Tar Hill State. Don, a final question for you.

Crime remains a pretty hot topic of discussion as well. One of the things dealing with crime is mental illness and individuals that are struggling from serious mental issues and maybe are not receiving the help that they need. We have a question about involuntary commitment. What is that question, and what do people have to say? Sure.

The question is: would you support an increase in the use of involuntary commitment as a means to ensure people with severe mental illness get the treatment they need? 69% said yes. I was actually surprised at how high that number was. Just 16% said no. They would not support an increase in the use of involuntary commitment.

So I think what that also means is that people recognize that the lack of control, the lack of what appears to be supervision or use of involuntary commitment is creating a threat in their community or a perceived threat in their community.

So 69% of respondents in this would support using more involuntary commitment as a way to make sure that people got the help they needed. Donna, a lot of interesting facts and figures that we have gone through today. We have this brand new Carolina Journal poll out for folks to go and read. Where can they go and get those details? Absolutely.

Head over to Carolinajournal.com, and you can get all the crosstabs, all that data and all that information. And certainly follow us on all social media and watch the debrief on YouTube. We're going to be talking more about it there as well. We appreciate the information this morning. Donna King, the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.

Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. I'm Nick Craig. We're tracking some statewide news this morning as the North Carolina House and the Republican leadership in the House are escalating some of their scrutiny of the state's Medicaid program. In a recent letter, they have called upon Attorney General Jeff Jackson, as well as the Health and Human Services Secretary, to testify next month on what lawmakers describe as a failure to adequately police fraud, waste, and abuse. State Representative Brendan Jones, the Republican out of Columbus County, who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced the move in letters calling both officials to appear on April the 16th.

The committee is also demanding comprehensive records from both agencies covering fraud investigations, referrals, staffing, budgets, as well as interagency coordination dating back to January the 1st of. Of 2023. If that name in Representative Jones and the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform sounds familiar, this is the committee that we saw a couple of times over the last few months grilling of state education officials over inappropriate books in the classroom. It is the same committee that hauled in Sheriff Gary McFadden and other Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials as well, that is now calling on the AG and DHHS secretary. Jones wrote in the summary of this: quote: Amid rampant Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse, failures, and lack of accountability is how state agencies are safeguarding taxpayer dollars.

The hearing sets up a high-profile test for two officials in Governor Josh Stein's administration as state lawmakers probe oversight of one of the state's budget's largest components. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Medicaid accounted for more than $35 billion in expenditures in the fiscal year, which ended June 30th of 2025. North Carolina law assigns the Department of Justice, that's the DOJ, a central role in investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud throughout its Medicaid Investigation Division as well as the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Jones' letter to Attorney General Jeff Jackson asks the AG to explain how his office is carrying out the enforcement role, including details on staffing levels, coordination with DHHS, and the use of investigation tools such as subpoenas and search warrants. Lawmakers are also requesting detailed data on cases that are opened and closed, civil and criminal enforcement actions, referrals received, and as well as any backlogs or delays within the various investigation units.

From DHHS, the committee is seeking records on audits, program integrity reviews, fraud risk assessments, as well as internal policies governing the detection and referral of suspected fraud. The request also targets communications between DHHS and the DOJ, as well as the oversight of high-cost drivers in the Medicaid program, including pharmaceutical spending and drugs like GLP-1s. The document requests are due by noon on April the 7th, just a couple of days there before the committee hearing is scheduled to take place as the oversight push continues to come, as state officials have pointed to ongoing enforcement efforts. Earlier this month, Month, Jackson announced the sentencing of the final defendant in a scheme that defrauded North Carolina Medicaid of more than $12.7 million with more than $15 million in restitution ordered. In that case, the DOJ said that its Medicaid investigation division used various pieces from data analysis as well as coordinating with state and federal partners to undercover fraudulent billing practices that were taking place.

However, Representative Brendan Jones suggests that lawmakers believe more aggressive oversight may be needed or that existing means are not being fully utilized. Jones wrote in his letter to Jackson: the public has a right to expect that these authorities are used fully and aggressively to identify and pursue fraud and hold bad actors accountable. The April hearing is expected to focus not only on enforcement outcomes, but also show on how the two agencies coordinate with one another. Both letters request communications, agreements and protocols governing how DHHS refers suspected fraud to the Department of Justice and how cases are investigated and prosecuted. From the DHHS side, lawmakers are asking for details on how the agency identifies high-risk areas within Medicaid and on safeguards that are currently in place to prevent abuse across the program's various components, including things like managed care and pharmaceutical spending.

The new oversight push also builds on the concerns raised during a recent legislative hearing on sharply rising Medicaid spending for autism therapy. We covered this yesterday morning right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Earlier this month, lawmakers examined data showing spending on applied behavioral health analysis, also known as ABA, as well as some related services, and how that is expected to surge from $121.7 million worth of spending in 2022 to a whopping $1.1 billion by 2027. For those keeping track of the math at home, that is roughly a 425% increase, while the number of children receiving services has also climbed alongside increases in the intensity of care. The growth just in those numbers has prompted some level of bipartisan concern about both cost and oversight as lawmakers are now questioning whether existing safeguards are sufficient, with some noting that spending increases appear to outpace underlying diagnosis, raising questions that the services are not necessarily always being used appropriately.

State and federal officials are already investigating the issue. The state auditor has launched a detailed review of some of these ABA autism therapy spendings in North Carolina, while federal auditors have also identified improper payments and documentation failure in similar programs that are taking place in other states across the U.S. Those same themes, rapid spending growth, oversight gaps, and potential misuse of funds now appear to be driving the North Carolina House Oversight Committee's broader inquiry. You can read not only more on this ABA therapy that we talked about yesterday and some of the 425% increase in spending, but also more from this letter from House lawmakers, all of those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The story's headline: North Carolina House Lawmakers Call for AG DHHS testimony on Medicaid.

That's going to do it for a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning B T. We're back with you Monday morning, five to six, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine, WBT.

Okay.